Stratton End

Stratton End, Cirencester

A house formerly known as the Rectory of Stratton. The building dates from the 17th century with substantial additions and alterations made in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, mid 18th century, and early 19th century.

The exterior employs varied materials across different elevations. The left side, rear, and left-hand half of the entrance front are rendered. The right-hand half of the entrance front is faced in coursed squared limestone, while the right side is coursed squared limestone rubble. The roofs are covered in stone slate, with concrete tile to the inner slopes. Multiple chimney stacks feature ashlar construction with moulded tops on gablets: two stacks sit to the left of the entrance front, a group of six similar octagonal flues rises on the gable to the rear left, a ridge stack stands to the right of the entrance front, and an end stack occupies the gable to the rear right.

The plan is irregular, formed by a long 17th-century range to the rear, with a late 17th or early 18th-century addition to the north-east forming the left-hand half of the present entrance front, and early 19th-century additions comprising the right-hand half of the entrance front and extensions to the rear left.

The entrance front to the north-east presents a two-storey elevation with four windows. The first floor contains one 2-light window with ovolo-moulded stone mullion-and-transom and a hoodmould to the left, flanked by three 6/6-pane sashes in plain reveals to the right. The ground floor has two similar 6/6-pane sashes to the right and a 19th-century gabled porch with stone slate roof and coped gable featuring trefoil stops. The porch door is a 6-panel specimen with the upper two panels glazed.

The south-east front to the left side features two gables and rises two storeys to an attic. This five-window elevation has at first-floor level two 6/6-pane horned sashes in flat unmoulded surrounds to the right, and three 6/6-pane sashes in similar surrounds with projecting cills and keyed lintels contained in a canted bay to the left. A 4/4-pane horned sash in a matching surround lights the gable to the left; the gable to the right contains a small blind window of similar design. The ground floor has two 6/6-pane sashes to the right in identical surrounds, and three early 20th-century two-light windows with chamfered stone mullion-and-transom in the bay, also with matching surrounds. The canted bay features a shallow plinth, a band course above the ground floor, a frieze, a moulded cornice, and a blocking course at first-floor level. The gables are finished with coping and trefoil stops at the apex.

The rear elevation to the south-west displays scattered fenestration, including a two-storey canted bay with ovolo-moulded stone mullion windows, probably dating to the early 19th century but reusing mullions salvaged from 17th-century windows. A pair of small lancet windows, possibly from the church, lights the first floor of the 17th-century range. The north-west-facing right side contains 19th-century two- and three-light casement windows.

The interior contains a late 18th or early 19th-century stick baluster well staircase with winders extending from ground to first floor, and a late 18th-century stick baluster winder back staircase. Beams throughout are boxed-out or chamfered with run-out stops. The drawing room features early 20th-century panelling. The billiard room is decorated with a 19th-century frieze displaying paterae and fluting, and a moulded cornice; it contains a 19th-century fireplace with a bayleaf garland surround and a floating shelf on brackets similarly adorned with bayleaf garland. The study to the rear has a stone chimneypiece with eared architrave, a deep dado, and an early 19th-century architrave to the bay window. Stone fireplaces are present at ground floor rear right and at three locations to the first floor left and rear.

The attic space contains one curved principal or brace visible to the left end; the remainder of the roof structure is concealed. An 18th-century grate without surround is installed at the left end, and a 19th-century stone fireplace with gothic grate occupies the rear. A door cut down from late 17th-century panelling survives alongside 18th-century two- and three-panel doors. A studded plank door provides access to the cellar, which features a wine cellar with stone bins.

The property was formerly the Rectory and was sold with its glebe land in 1912. Information regarding this history is recorded on a handboard in the Church of St Peter, Stratton.